EAST CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts jury of seven men and five women Monday found a former priest guilty of child rape, indecent assault and battery.
Former Roman Catholic priest Paul Shanley, 74, faces a sentence of life in prison, reported Court TV.
Shanley's accuser, a 27-year-old unidentified firefighter, testified the priest would regularly pull him out of Sunday catechism class for what he called "special duties" and then molest him in various locations at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Newton, Mass.
The accuser said he repressed memories of the incidents that included fondling and oral sex that he said began when he was 6 years old.
Shanley's defense tried to dampen the credibility of the decades-old memories. They also proved the accuser contacted a personal-injury lawyer before a physician or clinician.
